UNITED STATES – North Korea’s ambassador made a rare appearance at the U.N. Security Council on Monday to defend his country’s launch of a spy satellite while leader Kim Jong Un studied images from the White House and the Pentagon, among other places.

Western powers, Japan and South Korea have said North Korea violated Security Council resolutions by launching the satellite last week.

The totalitarian state said its new eye in the sky had already provided images of key U.S. and South Korean military sites, as well as photos of the Italian capital Rome.

According to state news agency KCNA, “detailed” images of the White House and the Pentagon in Washington were taken on Monday, with Kim reviewing the photos.

He also counted some aircraft carriers at a military base and shipyard in the neighboring state of Virginia, the report said.

In the Security Council, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Song, complained that other countries were not subject to restrictions on satellites.

“No other nation in the world is as critical in the security environment as the DPRK,” Kim said, using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“A belligerent party, the United States, is threatening us with a nuclear weapon,” he said.

“It is a legitimate right of the DPRK as another belligerent to develop, test, manufacture and possess weapons systems equivalent to those possessed or developed by the United States.”

He mocked U.S. accusations that satellite technology had also helped North Korea improve its missile capacity and questioned whether the United States would launch satellites into orbit “with a catapult.”

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield rejected North Korea’s claim that it was self-defense, saying joint exercises between the U.S. and South Korea were “routine” and “defensive in nature.”

“Unlike the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, we intentionally reduce risk and strive for transparency by announcing the exercises in advance, including dates and activities,” she said, adding that the exercises did not violate Security Council resolutions.

South Korea’s spy service said Russia was seeking help in Ukraine and had provided satellite support to North Korea following a summit between Kim and President Vladimir Putin.

The United States announced last month that North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and ammunition to Russia.

Russia and China, North Korea’s main ally, have tabled a resolution against the US to ease sanctions against Pyongyang in a bid to promote dialogue.

Chinese envoy Geng Shuang accused the US of “further escalating tensions and confrontation” through its military alliance with South Korea.

“If the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea feels constantly threatened and its legitimate security concerns remain unresolved, the peninsula will not be able to get out of the security dilemma and will only fall into a vicious cycle of aggressive attacks,” he said.